UH- Upland HunterGRHRCH-Grand Hunting Retriever Champion. A UKC/HRC title denoting that a Retriever has qualified in the annual HRC Grand event.

NAHRA TITLES

SR-This is the entry level NAHRA title. This title is earned by acquiring 10 points. At this level, a pass is worth 2.5 points.

WR-This is a NAHRA title that is earned by acquiring 20 points in the Intermediate level. At this level and higher, a pass is worth 5 points.

MHR-This is a NAHRA title that is earned by acquiring 100 points, 80 of which must be earned at the Senior level.

GMHR-This is a NAHRA title which is earned by acquiring 300 points at the Senior level. This is the highest possible title offered by NAHRA.

APLA TITLES

CP-Certified Pointing Retriever

AP-Advanced Pointing Retriever

MPR-Master Pointing Retriever

GMPR-Grand Master Pointing Retriever

Training

Amish Training - The art of training a dawg without the use of an E Collar.

Baseball - A beginning drill used to teach the dog to take hand signals. A precursor for blinds.

Yard Work - The term used to describe any number of drills that can be done in and around the kennel area. Baseball and OB are but two examples.

Bird Boy - (BB) The person, male or female, throwing the item for the dawg to retrieve.

Bumper - A plastic or canvas item, usually 2 or 3 inches in diameter, used to train the dawg. Available in a wide assortment of colors. White is generally used for marks. Black or Orange Bumpers are generally used for blinds.

Burn - Terminology used to describe a type of e-collar correction. Usually differentiated, in most training circles, from the definition of a "Nick". Used to correct a known command that the dog is choosing to disregard.

Collar Conditioning - A process by which the dawg is taught how to turn off the collar stimulation.

De-bolting - A term identifying the process used to teach the dog it can not "run away" from the stimulation caused by the e collar.

Dowel - An item used to teach the dawg the "hold" command. Generally wooden and not larger than one-half inch in diameter. The dog should hold the dowel gently but firmly before moving on to the next phase of FF.

Dummy Collar - A collar that is the exact duplicate of an e collar in size, shape, and weight but can not produce electrical stimulation.

E Collar - A tool used by the trainer and worn by the dog that enables the trainer to make an instant correction from a distance through the use of small amounts of electricity. It is an invaluable training tool when properly used. It is also the FASTEST way to ruin a good dog if used improperly.

Field Work - Dawg training generally conducted away from the area around the kennel. Includes concept work or marks and blinds.

Force Fetching - (a.k.a., FF, Forcing, Force Breaking, Conditioned Retrieving) Teaching a dog through the use of classical conditioning (stimulus/response) methods to pick up and hold an item until told to release it. Generally accomplished after the adult teeth are in place in the 6 -8 month age range.

Force to a Pile - An extension of Force Fetching. Pressure of some sort is applied in association with a command to go. This process is done in some circles to prepare the dawg for running blind retrieves. .

Heeling Stick - A riding crop or other item carried and used on the dawg to remind it of it’s proper place. This is not used to abuse the dawg, rather provide a gentle, but firm, reminder of the place.

Hold - A command used during conditioned retrieving by some to insure that the dog knows that he must hold, in his mouth, any object placed there.

Nick - A correction applied with an e collar set to a "Momentary" setting or a tap and immediate release of the button for those e collars without a "Momentary" setting.

Double - Two items a dawg sees thrown for it retrieve. Items are not thrown at the same time. A double tests the dawg’s memory as it must pick up one item, return to it’s handler, then go get the other item and bring it back.

Blind - The art of guiding a dog to an item it did not see fall through the use of voice, whistle, and body movements.

Blink - When the dog goes by an item that it has clearly seen and is supposed to have retrieved. The dawg runs out to the area of the fall looks directly at the bumper/bird, then continues to hunt around anyway..... "I can’t believe my dog has just BLINKED that bird!?!?!?"

Cast - To give the dawg a specific direction through the use of body movements.

Channel Blind - A water blind run in an area that, due to the close proximity of the bank on both sides, makes it very tempting for the dog to exit the water and get up on land.

Cheating - When a dawg avoids cover or obstacles enroute to or returning from an item to be retrieved.

Cold - A term used to define the running of a dawg on a concept it is familiar with but the exact placement of the item is new to the dog. When we train, we generally run our dogs on "cold" marks and/or blinds. Our dogs know how to mark or run a blind, but they don’t know the exact location of this specific mark or blind.

Diversion - A distraction, of some sort, including but not limited to a bird, a shot, a person moving, talking, yelling or walking, etc. done in dog games to test against switching, or dropping. Diversions in dog games are commonly a thrown bird as the dog returns from a retrieve. Sometimes these become part of a delayed mark.

Fall - (1) (a.k.a. Area of the Fall) - The spot on the ground or water where the item to be retrieved fell. (2) The time of year when we see just how well our training went during the "dog game"/"off-season.

Flare - When a dog avoids continuing on a straight line on which he was sent due to pressure applied previously in that general area.

Honor - When one dog must watch another dog retrieve while remaining steady.

Go Bird - The last item the dawg sees thrown. In a multiple mark situation, it is generally the first item a dawg will pick up.

Hand Signals - A series of hand/arm motions used to indicate to the dog which way you desire it go.

Hard Mouth - The action said to occur when a dawg uses too much force in picking up or holding a bird. This action renders the bird unfit for human consumption and is a major problem. Difficult, but not impossible, to cure once the habit has been formed.

Hidden Gun - A mark thrown by a BB when the BB is totally concealed from the dogs view. The dog hears a shot or call and sees the item to be retrieved thrown by does not see a BB.

Holding Blind - The only spot in the world your dawg can lose it’s mind and you can’t do a thing about it. ;-) A blind or series of blinds erected prior to the "line" in an effort to keep dogs and handlers available to run the test.

Indent - A term used to identify the placement of a shorter mark in relation to the other marks in the field. A triple is thrown, the first is 200 yards away, the second is 100 yards away, the third is 250 yards away. the second mark is called "indented" because the dawg must go long, then short, then long again. A difficult concept to teach.

Line - (1) The starting point for dawg tests, trials, and training. (2) The line segment from Point A to Point B from the starting point of tests, trails, and training (Point A) to the item to be retrieved, be it for marks or blinds (Point B).

Line Manners - A term used to describe how a dog acts while sitting at the "line" under judgment. "That dawg really pinned that mark, to bad he has the line manners of a goat!"

Literal Casting - A cast that, if taken properly, would lead directly to the blind.

Mark - An item a dog sees thrown for it to retrieve. Usually a game bird or a training bumper. A foundation task for dawgs.

Memory Bird - Any item in a multiple mark situation, other than the last item, a dawg has seen thrown for it to retrieve.

Poison Bird - A mark the dawg must ignore to successfully complete the assigned task, usually a blind. It is fairly common in the FT and upper levels of HT games to see this concept. It’s call "poison" because, in a Test, if the dog picks it up, it might as well be dead because it will be out of competition.

Pattern Field - A series of bumpers placed in the same location every time, generally in the shape of a (t) or a double (t) where two lines, separated by 40 - 50 yards intersect the center line. Used to teach handling skills to dawgs.

Pop - When a dawg stops and looks back to the handler for guidance or direction without being commanded. A bad thing.

Punch Bird - A term used to identify the placement of a longer mark in relation to the other marks in the field. A triple is thrown, the first is 100 yards away, the second is 200 yards away, the third is 125 yards away. The second mark is called a "punch bird" because the dawg must go short, then short, then long and "punch" through the short bird marks.

Retired Gun - Used in multiple marks. After the BB has thrown the item to be retrieved, the BB moves to a concealed location so when the dawg returns to the line and looks out to their mark, they are hidden from view.Big Hunt - When a dawg can not find a mark and runs all over the field looking for it. Not a good thing.

School or Schooled - Running a dawg on a mark or blind that it has run in the past. "Yes, I’d like to do this mark as a double, but, let’s school the memory bird first."

Secondary Selection - When the handler decides which bird will be picked up next. Used mostly in Field Trials but is a useful tool in the Retriever Training Tool Box.

Steady - (steadiness) The term used to describe when a dog sees a bird or birds fall while remaining in the position commanded by the handler. A steady dog should remain steady until commanded to do otherwise by the handler. Usually, a steady dog, commanded to do otherwise is told to complete the retrieve with a "go" command.

Switch - A dawg is sent to mark, establishes a hunt, then leaves that area and establishes a hunt in the area of another fall.

Tight Hunt - When the dogs runs directly to the area of the fall and after a short hunt in a small area directly around the fall, finds the item. A very good thing.

Triple - Three items a dog sees thrown for it to retrieve. Items are not thrown at the same time. A triple tests the dawg’s memory as it must pick up one item, return to it’s handler, then go get the other item, bring it back, then go get the third item and bring it back.

Two-Down-The-Shore - Generally, a water double thrown so as after picking up the go bird, the dawg must swim by the go bird fall area and pick up the memory bird. This is a tougher concept than it sounds and is a basic concept for advance dawg work.

Walking Singles - A single mark thrown by a BB for a dawg and, as the dawg is released, the BB walks away from the area if the fall. This teaches the dawg to concentrate on the item thrown and not the BB.

Walk Up - A mark or marks that occur while the dog is in motion, progressing with the handler. A typical walkup will expect the dog to cease progress upon the first mark and shot, usually in a sitting position, and to remain there until all marks have fallen and the handler commands the retriever to pick up a mark.

Quad - Same as for double and triple only now you are throwing four items.

Under-The-Arc - When the line to a blind takes the dog between a mark and the BB who has thrown that mark, the dawg is said to have run "under-the-arc."

OFA - Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. An organization which maintains a registry of hip and elbow data to help determine that joint confirmation is ideal and free of hereditary defects. Typical OFA hip ratings, in order of preference are: Excellent and Good followed by Fair. Initially spawned in an effort to curb the prevalence of Hip Displasia occuring in many large breed dogs.

PennHip - An alternative registry/database to OFA. This method utilizes a "predictive test" testing the "play" or joint looseness by manipulating a joint to measure looseness. While not a commonly accepted as the OFA, PennHip is considered by some advocates to be more predictive of future issues. PennHip scores ratings on a "living percentile" rating current tests against the existing database of previously analyzed animals.

MISC.

Campaign or Campaigning - The pursuit of a title for a dawg. "They will be campaigning several nice dogs this year."

Cookies - 1) a token that web wizards attach to one's hard drive to assist in web user identification. 2) A item used on occasion for positive reinforcement and persuasion, similar to beeeeeeeer. Sometimes fantasized about by certain RTF regulars who keep waiting for a gift from others.

Dawg - An uncommonly fine animal used for hunting, testing, trialing, and just generally hanging out with. Comes in all sizes, shapes, breeds and colors.

Dog - A common house pet. Not usually used for hunting, testing, or trialing.

Gift - 1) A term describing a test or series in which the judges set up something that dogs whose owners expect some trouble cruise through with no problem. 2) A facade used at special occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries. Quite frequently the justification for new sporting items such as, but not limited to; duckboats, shotguns, remote bird launchers, 4WD vehicles, September Saskatchewan trips, January Stuttgart trips.....etc.

Handler - The person releasing the dog to make a retriever.

Money Bird - The absolute last item, in a multiple mark situation, the dawg picks up. Called "Money Bird" because in a Field Trial, if your dog doesn’t get it, you get no money!

Pointing Lab - (PL) A lab that points at birds during an upland hunt instead of flushing them as regular labs (RL) do.

Professional - One who derives any portion of their income from the training of dawgs.

Premium - A notice sent out by the Club holding an event. This notice usually includes the time/date/place of stakes being held, entry cost, Judges names, directions and other information concerning the event.

Regular Lab - (RL) A lab that flushes birds during an upland instead of pointing at them as pointing labs (PL) do.

Warden - The term used to describe a spouse or significant other of a Retriever Trainer. Frequently an influencing factor in decisions such as how many dawgs to get and where they sleep.

White Coat - A term used to identify those people who participate in Field Trial events. Used because, in part, handlers wear white coats so as to be easily identified by their dawg when the dawg is a great distance away.

Amateur - One who trains dawgs for the shear pleasure of it.

Call Back - A list provided by dog game judges prior to the next series in an event. This list denotes those who are invited back to continue participating in the event. Those who do not make the "call back" have been disqualified for some reason.

Teach and the BUILD then build on what you TEACH. Baby steps, its all about baby steps.

gooseboy, i didn't think it was. i wanted an answer because i do not know! i have an idea of what it means but i don't like just guessing at things and claiming i know what i am talking about. i like to actually research things. i know, that probably sounds pretty crazy to your generation...LOL! (just poking fun...)

sorry shrp I didn't see your question up here. It all depends on what contex you are refering to.

If you are refering to Field Trials then it generally means that the dog has
either finished first, second or recieved a JAM(Judges Award of Merit) in either a Open or Amature which will qualify them for All-Age competition.

If you are talking about Hunt Test, it generally means that the dog has the required number of passes at the master level qualifying them for the master national. I am not 100% sure how many passes a dog needs I know its more than 6.

Hope this helps.

Teach and the BUILD then build on what you TEACH. Baby steps, its all about baby steps.

Qualified All Aged or QAA (on a ped it will be*** after the dogs name) is non-offical title.

There are two "under cards" at a Field Trial one is the Derby which is only marks, mostly doubles. The dogs can only compete at this level until age two and they get points for placing at the Derby, that is how a dog gets Derby Points.

The other "under card" is the Qual which is somewhere in difficulty between a Master Hunt Test and a Field Trial Open. There are triples for the marks and the dog must now run blinds (pretty good ones too.) The dog becomes QAA by placing 1st or 2nd in the Qual, after the dog places in the top 2 twice the dog can no longer run in the Qual. The dog can also get QAA buy placing in the top four at an Open or Amature, is can also get QAA by getting a JAM in an Open.

Both the Derby and Qual are used to find out if a young dog is good enough to keep training to try to take to the Open or Am. If the dog is 2yo and can't mark a double there is not much of a reason to keep the dog in training for the Qual and if the dog can not do Qual work by 3 or 4yo there is not much hope for it in the Open. These events are also a good place for a handler to gain experience.

A dog doesn't have to run the Derby to run the Qual and doesn't have to run the Qual to run the Open or Am.

If a dog gets QAA at young age like under 30 months old it is a pretty big deal. A dog that makes the Derby list (10 points in a year or more) also gets a lot of attention in the Field Trial world.

RD/OSD- RETINAL DYSPLASIA / OCULOSKELETAL DYSPLASIA- New test out last year for testing for dwarfism and related eye problems, can be used proactively on all dogs in breeding program (preferred) or on dogs that do not pass CERF with retinal folds to rule out OSD: http://www.optigen.com/opt9_rdosd.html

CNM- CENTRONUCLEAR MYOPATHY- Debiltating disease that is not curable, pups usually start showing symptoms at @ 10-20 weeks of age. Most are put down due to quality of life for animal : http://www.labradorcnm.com/

DM- DEGENERATIVE MYOPATHY- Debilitating disease that occurs with frequency in Chesepekes due to small gene pool, onset of disease usually @ age 5 which helps perpetuate the disease since dogs may have already been bred multiple times. Breeding stock should be tested! http://www.caninegeneticdiseases.net/DM/ancmntDM.htm

More info from the Field Trial world in how to accomplish titles and point break downs by stake.

Derby: Points are awarded for 1st through 4th with 5pts for 1st, 3pts for 2nd, 2pts for 3rd, and 1pt for 4th. 10 or more points places the dog on the Derby List and points are accumulated throughout their derby career regardless of calender year.

Qualifying: As mentioned previously, a dog becomes Qualified All Age by placing 1st or 2nd in a Qual stake or by placing or jamming an all age stake such as in the Open or Amateur.

AFC or Amateur Field Champion: Title is shown prior to the registered name of the dog and is accomplished by accumulating 15 points. Of those 15 pts, the dog must place 1st at least once. Only Amateur handlers/owners/co-owners are allowed to handle a dog in this stake. If the owner/co-owner who is an amateur handles the dog in the Open stake and receives 2 Open 1st's, the dog becomes both FC and AFC.

FC or Field Champion: Title also shown before the registered name. In this stake there are also two other break downs for types of stake called Special and Limited. In order to compete in the Special or Limited the dog must have either placed or been qualified all age at any time or for the limited, in the past year. In this stake, it is typically populated with professional trainers or amateurs who have been in the game so long they are almost on par with the pro's. A pro can enter as many dogs into the event as they wish and may have upwards of 12 dogs or more to run the same test allowing them more chances to see and run the set up. To receive the FC title, the dog must accumulate 10 points of which a win is required as well. If an amateur handler/owner/co-owner handles a dog in the open, the points accumulated on that dog are counted towards both the FC and AFC titles.

For Amateur and Open stakes, the points break down are as follows. 1st is worth 5, 2nd is worth 3, 3rd is worth 1 and 4th is worth 1/2 point.

In order to be invited to the annual Amateur or Open National, the dog must accomplish a win plus 3 points for a total of 7. The Amateur National is generally held in the Spring/Summer and the Open National is held in late Fall. This year, the Amateur National is going to be held in Virginia, MN.

Are you concerned about the future of hunting and access to land? Let your voice be heard. Visit http://.

"Collar condition": an introductory or foundational process that helps Pup understand proper response to proper e-callar use. But "CC" is also used as shorthand to indicate that the dog in question is being trained with the aid of an e-collar.

Collar Conditioning - A process by which the dawg is taught how to turn off the collar stimulation.

Why would you teach a retriever how to turn off the collar?

I think I misunderstood something here. Explain in more detail.

I'm an amateur trainer and have figured out a lot of that stuff on my own such as "de-bolting" and Baseball but I thought collar conditioning was teaching the dog that YOU are the one shocking him. I felt terrible the first time I shocked my dog and how confused he was.

For "collar conditioning: I put my shock-collar on setting 3 which barely stimulates and spent some of time (a little every day) showing him "me pushing the button". He figured out "I" was doing it, not the bumpers or grass but ME. After that the training went much, much smoother with less need for stimulations. The minute he figured out I could reach out and touch his little butt, things got a whole lot easier. This description is my "guess" at what it means. Corrections requested. Train me.I'm still learning.

aunt betty wrote:Collar Conditioning - A process by which the dawg is taught how to turn off the collar stimulation.

Why would you teach a retriever how to turn off the collar?

I think I misunderstood something here. Explain in more detail.

I'm an amateur trainer and have figured out a lot of that stuff on my own such as "de-bolting" and Baseball but I thought collar conditioning was teaching the dog that YOU are the one shocking him. I felt terrible the first time I shocked my dog and how confused he was.

For "collar conditioning: I put my shock-collar on setting 3 which barely stimulates and spent some of time (a little every day) showing him "me pushing the button". He figured out "I" was doing it, not the bumpers or grass but ME. After that the training went much, much smoother with less need for stimulations. The minute he figured out I could reach out and touch his little butt, things got a whole lot easier. This description is my "guess" at what it means. Corrections requested. Train me.I'm still learning.

This post isn't going to get much press in this thread. HNTFISH started another, that I will reply in.

aunt betty wrote:Collar Conditioning - A process by which the dawg is taught how to turn off the collar stimulation.

Why would you teach a retriever how to turn off the collar?

I think I misunderstood something here. Explain in more detail.

I'm an amateur trainer and have figured out a lot of that stuff on my own such as "de-bolting" and Baseball but I thought collar conditioning was teaching the dog that YOU are the one shocking him. I felt terrible the first time I shocked my dog and how confused he was.

For "collar conditioning: I put my shock-collar on setting 3 which barely stimulates and spent some of time (a little every day) showing him "me pushing the button". He figured out "I" was doing it, not the bumpers or grass but ME. After that the training went much, much smoother with less need for stimulations. The minute he figured out I could reach out and touch his little butt, things got a whole lot easier. This description is my "guess" at what it means. Corrections requested. Train me.I'm still learning.

T

his post isn't going to get much press in this thread. HNTFISH started another, that I will reply in.

copterdochunter

Posts: 2276Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:55 pm

What thread? link plz? I can't believe you're too big-headed to confirm or deny that I'm right or wrong. I been waiting since last September. You sir, are an *****************************************************

aunt betty wrote:What thread? link plz? I can't believe you're too big-headed to confirm or deny that I'm right or wrong. I been waiting since last September. You sir, are an *****************************************************

There are a few other AKC hunting titles now that Spaniels have been allowed to run AKC Retriever hunt tests and Retrievers have been allowed to run AKC Spaniel hunt tests.For a non-retriever earning AKC Retriever titles, the titles are:JHR = Junior Hunter RetrieverSHR = Senior Hunter RetrieverMHR = Master Hunter Retriever

There are also 3 new AKC Spaniel titles for dogs that have passed 5 additional hunt tests in a particular class and have earned an average score of 8 (instead of the required passing score of 7)These titles are:JHA = Junior Hunter AdvancedSHA = Senior Hunter AdvancedMHA = Master Hunter Advanced